


The Shirt Off Your Back

by kiragecko



Category: Batman (Comics), Red Robin (Comics)
Genre: Bullying, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Minor Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-27
Updated: 2019-08-27
Packaged: 2020-10-02 18:07:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 706
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20415133
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kiragecko/pseuds/kiragecko
Summary: Damian stares at the Hudson U sweatshirt. Drake has never been to Hudson University. Drake is a thief.





	The Shirt Off Your Back

**Author's Note:**

> This work has heavy background grieving going on.  
There's also destruction of prized possessions and bullying.

Damian stares at the Hudson U sweatshirt. Drake has never been to Hudson University. Drake is a thief.

Does Grayson know about this? Damian snorts to himself. Grayson is too trusting and too stupid. The idea that Grayson is taking care of Damian after Father’s… loss, is laughable. If Drake is to be kept in line, it’s up to Damian.

He removes Grayson’s possessions from the closet. He expects it to be easy, because they are much larger than Drake’s. But Drake’s kleptomania is not restricted to his ‘brother’. There are four women’s shirts in the closet. One of them is definitely Brown’s, the others are not worth identifying. There are two shirts far too small for Drake. And there are a half dozen identical Superman shirts.

Are ALL the previous Robins obsessed with Kent? There is nothing that looks like his Father’s. Damian can’t help but feel this is an even greater betrayal then the simple theft. Grayson has told him stories of how Father would twitch whenever he enthused about Superman. The man had seemed to think Damian would find this funny. He does not. How much had Drake’s unfaithfulness bothered Father?

When he is done, he separates out Grayson’s clothes to return them to their proper place. He takes the other offending garments down to the cave to be returned to their owners. (Drake’s shame will be obvious to all.) The Superman shirts he shreds, leaving remains strewn on Drake’s floor. Grayson will probably say nothing, so it is important Drake knows he has been found out.

* * *

It is almost two years before Drake wears another of the Clone’s shirts in the Manor. He flinches when Damian comes into the room.

Damian still does not understand the mechanics of grief, does still not totally understand why that particular pettiness cut deeper than so many others. Why Grayson looked at him the way he did, before slamming out of the house to get himself under control.

He does understand it hadn’t been a competition, and that there had been no way for him to win. That Gotham and Grayson would have worked better if Drake had stayed. That Damian and Grayson would have worked better if Drake had stayed.

He says, “If I wore one of West’s shirts people would suggest my interest in her was not innocent.”

Drake says, “If Irey gives you one of her shirts, Wally is going to lock her up until her 30th birthday. Possibly inside the Speed Force.”

He drops his laptop on the table, and Damian matches with his set of knives. They’ve never verbalized the ceasefire, but its gestures are natural now.

Grayson coos over the image of Damian and West (they have yet to reach armistice, but Grayson’s hope springs eternal), and Drake starts a conversation with Cain. The tension has mostly left Drake’s body. Damian wonders if the Hudson U sweatshirt is once again in Drake’s closet, or if he keeps it locked away. He wonders if Drake will ever know that Damian wishes he had stayed, wishes Drake had continued wearing t-shirts and going to school, wishes they didn’t still fight over Father’s company in matching suits, wishes that Drake’s relaxation hadn’t been a deliberate choice to prove a point.

Damian would have burned all of Colin’s possessions, had his friend died. Damian enjoys the crisp feel of a dress shirt, perfectly fitted to his frame. Damian would have killed Drake instead of leaving, had their places been reversed.

“If you’re going to wear cast-offs, you could at least wear something that hasn’t been obsolete for more than a year. Surely the Clone would be willing to discard one of the tasteless leather jackets he now sports?”

Drake looks away from Cass for a moment and laughs.

“When I want to wear leather I already have one of Jason’s jackets. And this shirt is classic, I’ll have you know.”

Todd had to be at least unconscious, possibly incarcerated, for Drake to take one of his jackets. Drake is definitely a thief.

But he hasn’t taken Grayson away, and when he wears the Hudson U sweatshirt Grayson will probably try to cuddle Damian and tell him how cute he’d look in Grayson’s clothes.


End file.
